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The Socialist Party is determined to reach agreement with its political partners ahead of next year’s general election, the party’s chairman, Gyula Molnár, told a conference on Saturday.

The party will prepare an agreement by Christmas, Molnár said at a joint event of the Party of European Socialists and the women’s section of the Socialist Party which is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

Cross-party cooperation will lead to an election victory only if the opposition parties manage to agree on joint candidates and a joint challenger for prime minister, Molnár said, adding that

they must attract new voters rather than relying on “redistributing what we’ve already got”.

The goal of the Socialists is not to replace the rest of the opposition but to replace the government. He added, however, that it would be impossible for the rest of the opposition “to replace this government without the Socialist Party”.

At an event attended by the major leftist and liberal parties on Saturday, it was stated that there was “hardly a public policy issue on which the opposition does not agree”. At the assembly of the Country for All Movement, in which the participants included the Democratic Coalition, the Hungarian Liberal Party, the Socialists, the Modern Hungary Movement and Párbeszéd,

a declaration was issued stating that the parties must cooperate and work towards a change of political system.

At the event entitled “Change and Justice in 2018”, opposition politicians, representatives of civil society and activists spoke about the need for electoral reform, freedom of the press, and fresh approaches to education, health, housing and the rule of law.